Key facts
- Real wages rose 2.2% year-on-year in September, the ninth consecutive monthly gain, after a revised 1.6% rise in August.
- Nominal wages rose 4.6% to 311,409 yen, the fastest growth since January 1997, the labor ministry said.
- Regular pay rose 3.7% in September, roughly matching August's 3.8% gain, a ministry official said.
- Special payments jumped 32.6% in September, which the ministry said reflected a statistical quirk rather than higher bonuses.
- The ministry's inflation gauge for calculating real wages rose to 2.4% in September from 2.2% in August.
Japan's real wages rose 2.2% in September from a year earlier, the ninth consecutive month of gains, government data showed on November 6. The increase picked up from a revised 1.6% gain in August, according to the labor ministry data.
Average nominal wages, or total cash earnings, rose 4.6% to 311,409 yen ($1,972.94), the fastest rise since January 1997 and up from August's revised 3.9% growth. Workers' base salaries, or regular pay, increased 3.7%, roughly in line with the 3.8% gain in August. A labor ministry official cited a steady rise in base salaries this year as a factor behind the improvement in real wages.
Overtime pay growth stood at 3.6% in September, down from August's revised 4.9% rise. Special payments, consisting mostly of volatile one-time bonuses, jumped 32.6% after a revised 1.8% increase in August. The ministry said the jump reflected a statistical quirk rather than an increase in bonuses or other payments.
The inflation rate used by the ministry to calculate the headline real wage indicator accelerated to 2.4% in September from 2.2% in August. It remained below the year-earlier level of 3.4%. Annual core inflation in Japan's capital well exceeded the central bank's 2% target in October, data showed last week, which the report said cemented the case for further BOJ rate hikes. Many analysts expect the next BOJ rate hike as soon as next month, according to the report.